Film wiper



| R FINK FILM WIPER June 22, 1937.

Filed Jul e, 19:56

.Zwrezcefifihk Patented June 22, 1937 UNITED STATES aoauss mu wrraa Lawrence Richard Fink, New York, N. Y., as-

signor to Fink-Roselieve Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New'York- Application July 6, 1936, Serial No. 89,219

1 Claim. This invention relates to a device for employment as a'wiper for strips'of film, and the like.

I long, thin and relatively narrow objects.

The surfaces of photographic film are extreme- 1y delicate and very easily damaged, and the processing operations necessitate handling steps which are a constant source of danger, in that the slightest surface scratch, tear, or adherent dust particle, is reflected inthe poor quality of the prints made from the film. The film must, therefore, be handled gently so as to avoid even the slightest surface injury, and this is particularly true in connection with operations entailed in the cleaning and wiping of the film free of the liquids with which the film is processed, and also, free of acquired dust and dampness, to both of which photographic film is rather susceptible. This cleaning and wiping presents quite a problem, since the film, which is ordinarily in long and narrow strips, is so easily damaged. Both surfaces of the strip must be cleaned, and if each surface is cleaned separately, the film undergoes a double handling. Also, in order to clean film strips properly, an even pressure must be exerted over,

the entire surface, and it is, therefore, desirable that the cleaning surfaces of the device used for the wiping, etc., be perfectly fiat and parallel to the sides of the film being cleaned. This even pressure prevents any possible bending or twisting of the film.

It is, therefore, the main object of my invention to provide a device for cleaning (and by cleaning" I mean wiping and drying, as well as cleaning) the surfaces of film strips, the effective faces 5 of which approach and oppose each other in parallel relation when the device is in operation.

It is another object of my invention to reduce the handling operations and hence, reduce the damage hazards incident to cleaning, by providing 40 adevice for cleaning both surfaces of the film strip simultaneously, in the one operation.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a device for cleaning film strips which is cheap and easy to manufacture, has relatively few parts,

45 and is simple to operate. Other objects of my invention will in part be obvious, and in part be' pointed out specifically hereinbelow in connection with the following description of an illustrative embodiment.

50 An illustrative form of the invention is shown thereof are fiat,

Fig. 3 is a view, on a larger scale, showing the end of one arm.

My invention resides not only in the particular shape of the wiper holder, but also in the particular size and shape of the wiping sponges, and in the particular relation in which the sponge is mounted on the holder.

The structure is preferably made from a strip of sheet metal, which should be non-corrosive with respect to the atmosphere and the agents em- 10 ployed on films and for cleaning films. This material should be resilient. The material is cut to length and provided at its ends with notches. In Fig. 1, the strip is shown as bent to form a tongs with the arms A and B extending from the 15 central bight C. The end of each arm. in this illustrative form, has a pair of points I0, .and a notch H of substantially triangular form is presented between the bifurcations. The walls of this notch are formed by successive long convergent surfaces l2 extending from the corresponding end of the strip toward one another and ,toward the bight of the tongs, separated by short divergent surfaces l3, so that teeth or barbs are provided and each tine ll of the bifurcated ends 25 has a spear-like form, with a general convergence of the adjacent walls of the tines it toward one another. It is preferred to form the upper end of the notch as a curve I5.

In service, a swab or sponge S is forced onto and 30 over each end of the tongs, so that the tines it pass into the sponges and the material of the sponge is compressed by the walls of the notch owing to its generally convergent form, the material of the sponge sliding along the long convergent surfaces l2 and becoming engaged successively behind the short divergent surfaces I3.

Sponges S are providedwith substantially fiat cleaning surfaces, see Fig. 2, that is, the faces Thus, when the sponges are placed on the arms A, B, the portions of sponges- S which faceand oppose each other, are in substantial parallelism, and the tines of each are pushed into the sponge in such manner that the plane of the arm is parallel to the plane of the cleaning surfaces of the sponge. Unless this is done, my device will not functon properly to clean thefilm surfaces evenly. It will be noted that the metallic holder ends are entirely embedded within the interior of sponges S, so that there is no possibility of any injury to the film from that particular source. Splitting the arm ends, providing two forked points ill on each end, serves to accomplish another purpose, to wit, keeping the sponges S from twisting or being as tendency thespongeiscoimteractedbythespacedtinea" il,ll,oneacharm.whichacttokeepthesponge and arm in the plane parallel relation above indicated.

SpongesBareofmchthicknessthat-when eaeharm,andthearmsbroughtintoparallellsm. theopposingfaceaofthespongeswillmeetin parallel abutting relationship. In other words. eachspongesisofsuch thicknessthatwheneach ofarmsmflareembeddedwithintheirrespectlvespongesandthe armspressed intoparallelism.theywillbeseparatedinsuchrelationby the thickness of the sponges therebetween. This relationship is not disturbed by the relatively insignificant thickness of the film strip.

The device may then be gripped in the hand as showninl'lg.2,andthestrip ofillmispassed between opposing faces of the sponges 8. and pressure exerted against the resilience of the holder-to bring arms A and B into parallelism. The cleaning and wiping surface of sponges 8 are thus broughtinto parallel relation to both sides ofsurfacesofthefllmand anevenpressurels exerted over the entire fllm area contacted by the sponges which bear against the two surfaces. of a motion picture film I", and by relative movement of the fllm and wiper. a squeegeelng eifect is pro- 'duced, for example in drying the fllm. It has been found that by using sponges of viscose,

excess water and dust may be removed from the aoe'aess having formed atthcendthereofapairofspacedapart tines, andhavingmounted thereonanormailyflatspongeinsuchrelationtheretothat the planeofthespongeisparalleltotheplaneofthe.

tines, the sponge beingof such sine and thickness that the tines are entirely embedded within and covered thereby, movement of the arms toward eachotherbrlngingtheopposed facesoi'the sponges into substantial parallelism so that both surfaces of the fllmipassing therebetween will be entirely contacted and cleaned by said sponge faces, said spaced-apart tines serving to secure said sponges against displacement from the parallel relationshp to the holder arms.

LAWRENCE RICHARD PINK. 

